The common practice in forming fibers of mineral material such as glass fibers, is to discharge the molten glass into a rotating centrifuge or spinner. The spinner has an orificed peripheral wall, and the molten glass passes through the orifices to produce glass fibers. The spinner is mounted for rotation on a shaft or quill, the quill is inserted into a cylindrical spindle, and the quill is held in place by a pin which engages a slot in the quill. The pin applies torque to the quill to rotate the quill and spinner. The pin is usually held in place by an annular pin carrier, which drives the pin to rotate the quill. An annular pin carrier housing surrounds the pin carrier. The pin carrier housing is threadably engageable with the spindle to be raised up upon turning of the spindle, thereby forcing the pin carrier upwardly to ensure solid contact between the pin and the quill.
Since the life of the spinner is limited, the threading of the spindle facilitates rapid insertion of the quill into the pin carrier housing during a changeover. During installation, the threading of the quill and spindle relative to the pin carrier housing causes upward movement of the pin carrier housing, thereby compressing annular wave springs and urging the pin carrier and the pin upwardly. The pin carrier and pin are urged upwardly against the top portion of the quill slot in order to prevent relative movement of the pin and the quill during operation. Without a strong upward force holding the pin at the top of the quill slot, vibration or thermal expansion could cause disengagement of the pin from the quill resulting in dropping a hot spinner onto the fiber collecting apparatus.
One of the problems associated with operating glass fiber forming equipment is that the threadable engagement of the quill and spindle does not enable a secure locking mechanism during high speed rotation of the apparatus. When rotated in one direction, the threaded insert is merely forced into a tighter threadable engagement with the threaded pin carrier housing. But when the apparatus is to be rotated in the reverse direction, the tendency is for the threaded insert to be unscrewed, thereby disengaging the quill from the pin. At times, it is desirable to operate spinners in the reverse direction. Also, at times the spinners are inadvertently operated in the reverse direction. Thus, there is a need for means enabling threadable engagement of the spindle and quill with the pin carrier housing, and at the same time provision for providing rotative force from the spindle to the pin carrier and pin via means independent of the threaded connection between the spindle with pin carrier housing.